Relief on sanctions offered in Iranian nuclear talks

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ALMATY, Kazakhstan — World powers, fearful of scuttling negotiations beginning this week with Iran, are offering the Islamic republic some small sanctions relief in return for curbing its nuclear program. But officials warned Monday it is unlikely that any compromise will be reached soon.

Negotiators set low expectations for the latest round of high-level talks to begin Tuesday in Kazakhstan’s largest city. It will be the first such meeting since last June’s in Moscow that threatened to derail delicate efforts to persuade Iran to stop enriching uranium to a level close to that used for nuclear warheads.

The stakes couldn’t be higher: The Obama administration is pushing for diplomacy to solve the impasse but has not ruled out the possibility of military intervention to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. And Israel has threatened it will use all means to stop Iran from being able to build a bomb, potentially as soon as this summer, raising the specter of a possible Mideast war.

Tehran maintains it is enriching uranium only to make reactor fuel and medical isotopes and insists that it has a right to do so under international law. It has signaled it does not intend to stop, despite harsh international sanctions on its oil and financial sectors, and UN nuclear inspectors last week confirmed Iran has begun a major upgrade of its program at the country’s main uranium enrichment site.

The clerical regime’s refusal frustrates the international community, which has responded by slapping Iran with a host of economic sanctions that US officials said have, among other things, cut the nation’s daily oil output by 1 million barrels and slashed its employment rate.

But, in a twist, negotiators now hope that easing some of the sanctions will make Tehran more agreeable to halting production of 20 percent enriched uranium — the highest grade of enrichment that Iran has acknowledged and one that experts say could be turned into warhead grade in a matter of months.